The 2024 Lancet Countdown Report on Population Health and Climate Change released
On November 5, the "2024 Lancet Countdown to Population Health and Climate Change China Report"(hereinafter referred to as the "China Report") was released in Beijing. Wang Hongwei, Vice President of Tsinghua University, Martin Taylor, Representative of the World Health Organization in China, Li Xiaocui, Deputy Director of the Department of Health and Immunization Program of the National Administration for Disease Control and Prevention, and Helena Wang, Senior Executive Editor of Asia of The Lancet Magazine, Zheng Zhijie, Chief Representative of the Beijing Office of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gong Peng, Global Co-Chairman of the Lancet Countdown Project and Vice President of the University of Hong Kong, attended the event and delivered speeches. The press conference was hosted by Luo Yong, director of the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University and co-chairman of the Lancet Countdown Asia Center.
The China report was led by the Lancet Countdown Asia Regional Center located in the Department of Geology of Tsinghua University, and was jointly completed by 77 experts from 28 institutions at home and abroad. On the basis of systematically tracking the current status of climate change health risks in various provinces, the China report added indicators such as composite exposure, carbon emissions from the medical system, and future forecasts for some indicators.
The China report pointed out that climate change is one of the main health risks facing China. Responding to the needs of mitigation and adaptation, it is urgent to increase capital investment, actively promote coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, strengthen cross-departmental cooperation and strengthen refined health meteorological services. Since the release of the first "China Report" in 2020, China has gradually "gathered sand into a tower", forming a "National Climate Change Health Adaptation Action Plan (2024-2030)" and a carbon peaking and carbon neutrality "1+N" policy system. As the core response system, some cities have summarized some advanced practical experiences, laying a good foundation for China to form a new journey of low-carbon health after COP28.
During the summit forum, Professor Chen Deliang, a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shared a keynote speech entitled "Invisible Threats: The Impact of Climate Warming on Health". Sun Jian, Vice President of the China Meteorological Service Association, delivered a speech titled "Meteorological Services Healthy Life, We Are In Action" report, Academician Huang Jianping of the Chinese Academy of Sciences delivered a speech titled "Health Benefits of Extreme Weather".
In addition, the press conference also invited Han Suqin, director of Tianjin City Environmental Meteorology Center, Liu Kexin, head of corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and ESG of Philips Greater China, Liu Yanxiang, chief researcher of China Meteorological Administration, and Zhang Taiyuan, host of CCTV weather forecast, to jointly hold a wonderful dialogue on the topic of "promoting the innovative integration of industry-academia-research and jointly responding to the climate health crisis."
Luo Yong said that the Department of Geosciences of Tsinghua University will, as always, build a multidisciplinary cross-platform for climate and health, provide a communication bridge between decision makers, media, the public and industry, and work with sister units to provide high-quality academic research results and provide continuous efforts in decision-making support and public science popularization to create a healthy and sustainable future.
Original title: The 2024 Lancet Countdown Report on Population Health and Climate Change released
